Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Luke 6:17, 20-26 Full Readings
Saint Gilbert of Sempringham
Living a Blessed Life
This Sunday's readings, in a way, give us an answer to this question. We live a blessed life when we put all our trust in the Lord, follow his teachings, and put into practice all the virtues and beatitudes he expects of us to live. St. Paul in the second reading thus invites us to believe in the resurrection as the foundation of our faith, for the perfect and the fullness of blessed life is only possible after the resurrection. If we do not do these, then we are cursed. Cursed and woe are those who have put their trust in the human beings and worldly pleasures of this world, says Jeremiah in the first reading, the responsorial Psalm, and Jesus in the gospel. Perhaps, the very fundamental question for us today, according to the above conditions, is: Are you blessed or cursed?
Jeremiah differentiates the cursed from the blessed. While the former trust in human beings and power, the latter trust in the Lord and place their hope in him. While the former are like a barren bush in the desert, the latter are like a tree planted beside the waters. While the former are empty in an empty place, the latter bear fruit for God’s Kingdom. In a covenant relationship between two parties, fidelity to the other brings blessings, while infidelity in the relationship triggers curses. In a marriage covenant, for example, faithful love often flourishes and brings about happiness, while infidelity tends to destroy the relationship and break the trust between the two. In a divine covenant, God is always faithful, while time and time again human beings prove themselves to be unfaithful. May we always long to be faithful to God so that we may be blessed here on earth and after live blessed life, a life of happiness forever.
'Being blessed' in the Bible can also mean being happy and joyful. All these mean Beatitude. We are blessed when we live the beatitudes. Luke presents the beatitudes today in Jesus' Sermon on the Plain, and Matthew presents them in the Sermon on Mount. The Beatitudes are conditions of being blessed or happy but also conditions for entering the Kingdom of God and the standard of Christian life. But to be honest, they are very contradictory to the world's living and pleasures. To be poor, to be hungry, to be weeping in sorrow, to be hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced as evil hardly seems like a blessing. In fact, when we experience any of these, we are more likely to feel cursed, abandoned, and forgotten by God. Few of us are spiritually evolved enough to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). In fact, our reaction is quite often the opposite; we beg God to change things around until they are more to our liking.
On the contrary, Jesus says such a person is blessed. Why? We need to understand on a deep spiritual level what Jesus means because, as Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D. says, "not all the poor are blessed, for poverty is neutral. The poor can be either good or evil...blessed is the man poor in offence. Blessed is the man poor in vices. Blessed is the poor man in whom the prince of this world (John 14:30) finds nothing. Blessed is the poor man who is like Christ; although he was rich, he became poor for our sake (2 Corinthians 8:9). Matthew fully revealed this when he said, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit' (Matthew 5:3). This tells us that we are blessed when we are hated, insulted, abandoned, excluded, and denounced when we make tough choices to follow Jesus instead of the world, for Jesus is here to strengthen and console us and gives us the spiritual joy and happiness we need. Our only happiness is in Jesus Christ, for, as Saint Augustine says, the Lord made us for himself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
Opposed to the call to live the beatitudes, a blessed life, the world entices us to find happiness in it. There is always that sweet worldly voice telling us that instead of poverty of Spirit, we should seek happiness in material things and popularity; instead of being merciful, we should foster revenge and resentment and unforgiveness; instead of being sorry and shameful of sin, we should rationalize sin; and many other contradictions to the beatitudes. For instance, the rich who are filled may be tempted not to see their deep need for a saviour. Confident in their own superiority, they dismiss their own sin, rationalizing whatever behaviour brings them pleasure. Replete with satisfaction in the things of this world, they ignore thoughts of eternity. But brethren, let us not be taken by these worldly pleasures as Jesus warns us with a 'woe.' Watch out! Since we know that this life, however beautiful and precious, is not the endgame, we should stay focused on that time when “every tear will be wiped away” (Revelation 21:4). Remember, “Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal” (St. Thomas More).
Additionally, those who are filled now have a temptation of not seeking the spiritual food which sustains us both spiritually and physically because they everything at their disposal; watch out! Those who are laughing now, filled with worldly pleasures, happiness and satisfactions always have a temptation of not recognizing their limitations and sinfulness as human beings and so need no repentance of sins, seeking justice and mercy of God; watch out! Those who are well spoken, those preaching an easy religion without persecution and the prophets are getting famous here and loving easy lives, lives without a cross forgetting the way of Jesus of the Cross; watch out!
Reflect today on where your happiness lies and where to find your happiness. Thomas Aquinas said, "No person can live without joy. That is why someone deprived of spiritual joy goes after carnal pleasures." As human beings, it is in our nature to find happiness; is your happiness found in Jesus Christ, which means you are blessed, or in worldly things, which means you have a big woe from Jesus?
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